AI will do some great things for humanity, but its militarisation would spark an arms race. Photo: Bloomberg

More than 1000 of the leading researchers in artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics have on Tuesday signed and published an open letter calling for a ban on offensive autonomous weapons, also known colloquially as “killer robots”.

The letter has been signed by many technologists and experts, including SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, physicist Stephen Hawking, Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Skype co-founder Jaan Talinn and linguist and activist Noam Chomsky.

We can get it right at this early stage, or we can stand idly by and witness the birth of a new era of warfare

Musk, Hawking and Wozniak have all recently warned about the dangers that AI poses to mankind...